Man and Church
You Are Not Supposed to Understand Everything in Church…Yet
Modern education teaches us to grasp a lesson before we are asked to live it. The Church often teaches in the opposite order, and understanding comes to those who stay long enough to receive it.
At coffee hour after the Divine Liturgy, a first-time visitor often says it half-apologetically: “I didn’t understand most of what happened.” The chanters chanted in a language he does not speak. The priest faced the altar for long stretches. Petitions came and went before his mind could catch them. Someone, he assumes, should have explained it all beforehand.
A leaflet might have helped him follow the order of the service, and a warm greeting might have made him feel less like an intruder, but the Liturgy was never composed to be grasped on a first hearing. You are not supposed to understand everything in church, at least not yet. The Church has always honored the intellect, though she resists a mind that insists on mastering the mystery before it will kneel.
